Holiday Gift Ideas Abound for Animal Companions

If you're procrastinating about making holiday plans for your four-legged companions, do not delay.

While the shelves are fully stocked at the city's pet boutiques, the calendars at grooming shops, boarding facilities, and pet sitters are filling rapidly. The largest pet hotels - Wag, High Tail, Pet Camp, and Mission: Cats - have been booked solid for weeks, although websites such as http://www.Rover.com still have many available sitters.

For those pet guardians who think their furry friends already have everything they need, it's time to reconsider.

Just released December 1 are the new French-inspired Mon Bebe dog toys designed by Richard Shiu, co-owner of the Castro pet emporium Best in Show (www.bestinshowsf.com). The shop, which Shiu founded in 2002 with his partner, George Freeman, carries hundreds of gifts for dogs and cats as well as T-shirts and hats for humans.

The notion of buying holiday gifts for pets has become increasingly popular, said Shiu, including unique luxury products such as the $155 Swarovski crystal dog collars.

"Paris Hilton started it all," he told the Bay Area Reporter during an interview in his busy shop.

At least once a week, he said, a customer will spend over $500 on dog gifts.

There are also coats and sweaters, ranging from $40-$100, a large dog bed for $280, and a cat tower for $300. Shiu's designs are also sold nationwide through his website.

Explaining the popularity of extravagant pet gifts to Castro customers (at least half of whom are tourists), Shiu pointed to his popular T-shirt line, which says aptly, "Dogs are the new kids."

That, he said, "explains it well."

At other shops, there are more gift ideas.

The gay-owned Noe Valley Pet Company (http://www.noevalleypet.com) carries a wide variety of holiday treats and toys from several local small bakeries, including truffles and gingerbread boys. And gay-owned George (www.georgesf.com), in Pacific Heights, has Santa hats and yarmulkes for dogs as well as a wide selection of clothing and accessories, including jingle collars and plaid bow ties.

If your dog is a picky eater or is part of a "foodie family," Jeffrey's Natural Pet Foods (http://www.jeffreyspets.com/) makes their own natural foods and treats, including bison jerky, dried hot dog bites, dehydrated chicken hearts, and gizzards.

Paw Patch Pastries and Pet Boutique (www.pawpatchpastries.com) owner Carla Ocfemia specializes in "100 percent natural healthy organic treats," which include gluten free, wheat free, corn free, and soy free cookies and cakes. The bakery is especially busy over the December holidays, she said, with customer gift baskets and stockings especially popular. Ocfemia went to culinary arts school and worked in catering before opening the pet bakery.

If you're looking for grooming products, Cole Valley's Green Pawz Pet Boutique, (http://www.greenpawzsf.com) promises to "pamper your pet and our planet." The store also carries a "natural and organic" dog shampoo made in Marin County.

One of the most extravagant gifts for dogs who enjoy pampering is the "deluxe spa package" offered to grooming clients at SOMA's Doggie Day Spaw (http://www.doggiedayspawsf.com). The treatments, which cost $25 in addition to standard grooming fees, include a blueberry "furcial," a paw cleanse and a paw pad moisturizer, and a body butter treatment. The shop is booked through the holidays but owners can purchase a gift certificate for their pet to enjoy later.

Many grooming shops are filling their slots rapidly as well. Lancy Woo, the out owner of Noe Valley's VIP Grooming (http://www.vipgroomingsf.com), said that pre-holiday availability is very limited, with many owners booking early "to be sure the dogs are looking good and smelling wonderful" for holiday parties.

But staff at gay-owned Mud Puppy's Tub and Scrub (www.mudpuppys.com) report that both the Castro and Marina locations still have many grooming openings available, including some same-day availability.

For pet owners who are considering a last minute getaway for themselves, many of the largest boarding facilities all have been booked for weeks.

But if you're willing to hire an individual pet sitter, either to come into your home or host your pet in their home, there are many options on the aforementioned Rover.com. The company, which calls itself the "Airbnb for dogs," has over 1,000 pet sitters in the Bay Area.

And lastly, if you don't have a pet to splurge on just yet, the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is making it easier to find the right puppy or kitten.

Now in its 29th year of its special holiday adoption program, the SF SPCA has taken over half a dozen windows at the Union Square Macy's, where you can watch and meet young dogs and cats looking for their forever home. Thus far, 127 pets have been adopted, said Amber Eby-Shearer, the SF SPCA's adoption center coordinator, with a few weeks left until the program ends in early January. During the holiday program, the agency waives the $75 adoption fee for cats, she said.

If you're considering buying a pet for someone outside of your immediate household, Eby-Shearer suggests you instead purchase a gift certificate so that the future owner can make their own decision.

If the dog or cat is for your own household, she also noted that studies by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found that pets adopted during the holiday period are no more likely to be returned than pets adopted at any other time of year.

While the animals in the window are small, the SF SPCA will have larger dogs available to meet on weekends when Stockton Street is closed to traffic.